A blogiversary giveaway

Three years.  For better or worse, that's how long I've been writing this blog.  There are days it seems longer and on others it feels like I just started.  Some days I have so much I want to put down on paper, so to speak, and others, many of them lately, I feel empty-headed. 

The blog sphere is an odd place.  We get to choose how much of ourselves we want to reveal.  Some pass out little bits and pieces of their lives and others give us the full Monty.  Regardless of what or how much is shared, it's just that, shared.  I feel blessed at all the people I've "met" and things I have learned.


So, to celebrate on my favorite lady's feast day and  blogiversary, I have two Our Lady of Guadalupe medals to give away.  Just leave a comment and Saturday evening the hairy beast will determine the winners.

St. Juan Diego, pray for us!

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

 

AMDG

Saints alive!

Last week TCIE posted a reminder about the saint selector over at Conversion Diary. I kind of hesitated doing it. I didn’t want to be disappointed in whatever saint was selected for me. Weird, I know.

The first year I did it, Our Lady of Guadalupe was my patron saint for the year. As I’ve mentioned before, she’s the depiction of Mary that speaks the most to me. I find her presence and her intercession very powerful.

Last year, when I clicked on the saint selector I received the name of a saint I had never heard of before. Nothing about her seemed like she was applicable in my life. So I click again and again and again. Every saint that came up was someone obscure and remote.

So, as I am wont to do when I don’t like something, I ignored it, well, her. To this day, although I remember it was a female saint, I do not recall which one it was.

And, that was my loss, not hers.

Who knows what might have been had I taken even a little bit of time to learn about her. Maybe she would have “spoken” to me in a way I could see how she figured in my life. If nothing else, I would have learned something about one of God’s holy warriors.

So, this weekend I put on my big girl pants and clicked that button.

And you know what? I still don’t know why I got the saint (or almost saint) I did. But this time I think I'll take the time to read something about him and perhaps figure it out.

AMDG

The Sand Pail Report - Saving the best for last

Back in the spring Himself and I put together our Sand Pail List for the summer.  It was a list of fun things we’d like to do that maybe we had never done or hadn’t done in a long time.

One of the comments I received was "Love this! Can we add "meet up with Rebecca" to it - and I'll put "meet up with Donna" in mine :)!"  And so it was added. 

And so we did!  It wasn't summer, but who cares?

We met in the middle at a beautiful resort/park to see the Christmas light display and have dinner.  When Rebecca texted me that they had arrived, Himself asked if I would recognize her when we got to the lobby.  Not a problem!  It was like meeting an old friend for the first time. 

What an awesome evening!  We talked about everything - faith, IF, authors, running, blogging, Breaking Bad, and so much more.  I love talking with someone who "gets it", who understands what we believe and why we do.  Those conversations are so energizing. 

Even a call from our dog/house sitter to say she locked herself out hardly paused the conversations.  A call to Sis to rescue the two strays set everything right.

I can't wait to do it again.



The Man, Rebecca, Donna, Himself

(I had to "borrow" Rebecca's photo.  I had two cameras and didn't take a single picture!)

PS.  Inspired by the surroundings and by this post we came up with a possible idea for next summer.  You'll just have to hang on a bit for more details.

AMDG

Ugly Apples . . .

. . . make pretty pies!

 

I'm sure there is a life lesson in there somewhere, but, at the moment, my mind is too tired to find it.

We have an apple tree in our yard from when the neighborhood was a cattle farm.  The tree really hasn't produced much until this year.  Actually, it was so loaded with apples that a large branch cracked off.  The apples in the basket are from that one branch alone!

I didn't use nearly enough of the apples, for which I am sure the deer are thankful, but when I did, boy was the eating good!

I'm sure there are a whole lot of lessons in the basket of apples.  I'll let you figure them out!

AMDG

Quiet Rest

Maybe I’m a bit odd, but there is something I find incredibly beautiful about an empty farm field or garden.  After the crops have been harvested and the plants plowed under or removed, there remains nothing but bare earth.  The land has done its job for the season past and now rests in emptiness.
 

The next months will be spent under layers of snow or soggy in the wet of rain.  The colors will be dull and mostly monochromatic.  But still it is full of texture.  It is far from boring.

 
I think about this now not only because of the time of year and the chores I have just completed, but perhaps because of the time of year.  Hopefully that makes some sense.  
 

The weather is turning colder and the cycle of life for farm fields and flower gardens has come to an end.  Soon we will be preparing for Christmas. I have already seen the beginnings of it in the sale aisles of the stores and on the city streets where decorations are starting to pop up. The radio announcers have begun to speak of Christmas carols that they plan to play in the weeks ahead.

But now.  Now is an in between time.  The vibrant colors of summer and fall have faded and the holiday reds, greens and golds have yet to appear, but the texture remains.  Quiet, unassuming.  Resting.


AMDG

Somedays

Growing up we were far from rich, but we never were in need of anything. We might not have had everything we wanted, but never lacked a warm roof over our heads, clothes to cover us, food to eat, entertainment and activities to amuse us.  

My mom taught us a great lesson, one she often showed us by example, that we should have our Somedays.  

Someday I will do this. Someday I will have that. Someday I will be whatever.

If we got everything all at once, she said, life would be boring. What would there be to look forward to?

As I mentioned, she was a great example. Growing up she was often told by her teachers that she was stupid and wouldn’t amount to much. Education past high school would be wasted on her. Thankfully, somewhere along the line she figured out that just wasn’t true.  

When I was in grade school she started back to school at the local community college. She had to drop out when she needed to go to work full time after my dad had gotten laid off from his job. After getting both her daughters through private high school and then college, she went back to school and earned her Associates degree with a double major. She knew someday she was going to do it and someday she did!

She had many examples like that. Most often it was about learning and doing. Someday she wanted to learn to play the hammer dulcimer and she did. Someday she wanted to work with little children and she did, as a tutor and teacher’s assistant in the parish kindergarten. Someday she wanted to travel and she did. She and my dad took trips to Bermuda, Hawaii, California, and just a year before she died, to Ireland. 

I started thinking about my Somedays. When I was young I often thought I wanted to be a writer. I loved reading and among my favorites was Laura Ingalls Wilder. Someday I wanted to be like her. Apparently November is NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. Perhaps now is the time to start.

When I was young, someday I wanted to be a mother.  At my age, unless God sends a stork to drop a baby in our laps, that isn't going to happen.  And I'm okay with that.

I think I would have liked the farm life. I would like to have goats and chickens and alpacas. Hopefully that Someday will be next summer.

Someday I'd like an always sparklingly clean house.  Not going to happen.  There's too much else to do.

I’ve achieved many of my Somedays. I have a wonderful husband, a lovely home, a beautiful niece and Goddaughter. 

I need nothing. But I yearn for Somedays.

What are your Somedays?

AMDG

A great day to be alive

 

And it's a great day to be alive
I know the sun's still shinin’ when I close my eyes
There's some hard times in the neighborhood
But why can't every day be just this good?

 

 

AMDG

Our guest

A few weeks ago our friends K & S came over for dinner. With them they brought an extra guest. S’s mom has a traveling picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe that she graciously sent to stay with us for a while.

OLG has always been near and dear to my heart. It is the depiction of Mary that speaks most to me. I also have had a few coincidences with her as well. I started this blog on her feast day (completely unintentional but I love it) and one year she was my patron saint.

I haven’t been taking advantage of her presence nearly enough. She sits on the fire place mantel, looking pretty but largely ignored. And, that must change. It is hardly a good way to treat a guest.

So, I offer this to you. If you have an intention for which you would like me to pray, either leave it in the comments or drop me an email. (donna1164 at gmail dot com) I will place it in a bowl at her feet and promise to include it in daily prayer to her.

AMDG

Perfect Weekend

I wrote this two weeks ago and finally got around to publishing it.  I guess I too am suffering from that don't post unless it's perfect syndrome.  If that's the case, it ain't never gonna happen!

I have often said that the perfect weekend would be three days. One would be to do chores and errands, one to visit with family and friends and one day to just plain relax. I got lucky this past weekend and had it one better, a four day weekend. Lovely!

On Thursday we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. Fifteen years! It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long and sometimes it feels like it’s been longer. Not in a bad way. But in a good way. Like life always included Himself. Anything before doesn’t count. But it did because it made us who we are and made us ready for each other.

Wow, I digress. Not where I was going with this.  

Anyways, back to the perfect weekend. Thursday we went to an art show at a local historic mansion. The estate originally was built by the founder of one of the larger tire manufacturers in the country and was later deeded over as a park of sorts. Oh to have a bottomless bag of money! There were so many pretty, pretty things for sale.
  
Friday we went for a drive down to Amish country and had a leisurely and delicious lunch at an inn that is the most un-Amish of places in the area. It’s tucked back in some rolling hills among a thick stand of woods. We had planned on walking the trails afterwards but the rain put a damper on that. That’s okay, we were rewarded with delicate kitty kisses from the local calico instead.

Saturday was the chore and errand day. Half a bushel of beets waited to be processed and canned. We’ll be eating a lot of beets this winter.  

The icing on the weekend, though, came on Sunday morning. Late Saturday we made last minute plans with Sis to go to mass with them. Sis and BIL live about 45 minutes away and the last time we were at their church was for Sara’s baptism more than a year ago.  

Sis often tells me that Sara can be a bit of a handful in church. She’s fifteen months old, that’s what she does. She wants to move and see and do. But from the Gospel on she settled nicely in Uncle Himself’s arms and was a perfect little angel. At the sign of peace she held out her arms to me and I had her to the end.  

And then best part of the weekend happened. I got to receive the Eucharist with my Goddaughter in my arms. How perfect is that!


AMDG!

Bagels and bad poetry

That shave your legs entry has been sitting on top of the post pile entirely too long. It's about time it goes away, or at least gets pushed aside.

Yesterday on the way to work I stopped for a bag of bagels for my IT compatriots. Just because. And, feeling goofy, I sent out the following email to everyone.

 

I was amazed at the silliness it brought out in people.  Both the bagels and the poor poem had people chatting all day.  Hmm?  Do you think we need to get out more?

I received this thank you from my manager.  I think it's a poem?

     Thank you Donna for the bad poetry
     Morning bagels are awesome
     Especially when they’re free!
 
The VP even added his own poem, bad as it was.

     Roses are red
     Violets are blue
     I'm having a bagel
     How about you?

What do you do "Just because"?


AMDG